As I stagger towards writing up some case law at the weekend, some notes on things that have happened. The Solicitors Regulation Authority published a Guidance note - "Advising on leasehold provisions including ground rent clauses". This covers a lot of the...
Company landlords and signing notices
Northwood (Solihull) Ltd v Fearn & Ors (2022) EWCA Civ 40 This was a second appeal on the issue of the signing of tenancy deposit prescribed information certificates and section 8 notices by company landlords. The first appeal (our note here) had held...
RROs, company directors and reasonable excuses
A couple of Upper Tribunal appeal decisions on rent repayment order cases. Kaszowska & Ors v White (HOUSING - RENT PAYMENT - whether a rent repayment order may be made against a director of a company landlord) (2022) UKUT 11 (LC) We saw the FTT decision...
News things
There were a few announcements today and a Supreme Court decision. By far the biggest one, if you live in or are a landlord, or indeed a housing lawyer, in Wales is that the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 will be implemented (come into force) on 15 July...
The shape of things to come – a video look forward.
I decided to ignore 2021 altogether this new year. Instead, here is a look forward (if not entirely an enthusiastic one) to potential policy and legislative changes in 2022, for England, at least. (If Wales finally brings in the Renting Homes (Wales) Act in...
Still with the old, bring in the new. Wales update and preview.
Our grateful thanks to Mike Norman of Harrow Law Centre for the following post on the position - current and to come - on housing law changes in Wales. Notice Seeking Possession It has been now over a year since the previous article substantially updating...
Various notes – anniversaries, punishments, evictions and RROs.
A few notes on events and a couple of RRO cases. Landlord Law, run by Tessa Shepperson, has achieved the remarkable feat of passing its 20th anniversary. That is really quite something for an online service - the online landscape was very different in 2001!....
No covering this up
As we reach the end of a truly awful week for the government* the National Audit Office has decided to get in on the act. The Regulation of Private Renting report is the equivalent of a (fully deserved) kicking for the government and its approach to the...
The appearance of a substantial defence in possession claims, and property guardians and possession.
Global 100 Ltd v Laleva (2021) EWCA Civ 1835 There is a hell of a lot packed into one appeal here, so I'll try to be brief. This was Global 100's appeal of a first instance appeal (our note here) in which HHJ Luba QC had held that the first instance District...
Possession news
A couple of items on possession claims and evictions. And another occasion to overuse exclamation marks. According to the Minutes of the CPR Committee meeting of 8 October 2021, Practice Direction 55C will be sort of coming to an end on 30 November 2021, but...
Possession proceedings – end of the ‘overall arrangements’.
Yesterday (3 November) a statement from the Master of the Rolls announcing the end of the 'overall arrangements for possession proceedings', as of 1 November 2021, was put up on the judiciary website. The statement is here. (The original version of this post...
There’s a cheque on the table – s.21 and return of deposit
Gul v Bilal, Stratford Hearing Centre, 18 October 2021 (unreported. We've seen a note of hearing). A County Court decision on a landlord's application which adds to the not uncomplicated history of decisions on when a tenancy deposit counts as returned to...